Between the Sheets

I barely wrap up one contest and move to the next! Brenda Drake, author and blog mama is hosting a whamboozle of a contest called PITCH WARS. Yours truly has been invited to be A MENTOR FOR WRITERS aspiring to spiff up their manuscripts and land an agent. Brenda set up all the details and asked us to spread the word. Check out this amazing opportunity below!

BRENDA SAYS…

We’re extremely excited to announce an upcoming event where AGENTED AUTHORS, INDUSTRY INTERNS, AND EDITORS team up with aspiring writers to shine up their manuscripts and pitches to present to some AWESOME AGENTS.

THE DEETS

• The teams will consist of 1 agented author or industry intern or editor (coaches) and 1 aspiring author.

• November 26th: The coaches (listed on the linky below) will post on their blogs what genre/category they want to coach. They’ll be very specific genres. Aspiring writers will hop around and decide which coaches best fit their manuscripts.

• November 26 through December 5 at 8PM EST: Aspiring writers will submit 3 “applications” to their top choices for coaches to the contest email (brendadrakecontests@gmail.com). That means, participants will send three separate emails to the contest email addressing each with one of their three top choices for coach..

• December 5 through December 10: Coaches will read the applications and pick teammates.The coaches don’t have to pick from their applications. If a coach passes on an application, it is then up for grabs and another coach, if they haven’t connected to their applicants, can snatch it after notifying the applicant and if the applicant chooses the coach.

• December 12: Teams will be announced. On the announcement post there will be instructions on how the winners must send their work.

• December 12 through January 16: Each coach will read their teammate’s manuscript and give general notes on any issues they find. The coach will help their teammate get his or her pitches ready for the agent round.

• Note: The material for the agent round will be a 3 sentence pitch and the first 250 words of your manuscript. Coaches will read manuscripts and query letters only once and give notes. It is up to the writer to use the notes from their coaches to get the manuscript and query letter in as best shape as they can to send to requesting agents. The coaches will critique the three sentence pitch and first 250 words. The coaches will read them as many times as they deem necessary. In no way will writers expect the coaches to read the manuscript and query letter more than once or the pitches more than twice.

• January 20: Coaches will submit shined pitches to the contest email.

• January 23 and 24: Agents will read and make requests on the pitches they like (it is likely that not all participants will get requests).

• January 25: We’ll announce the team with the most requests and who will take home the winning prizes (an amazon gift card for each).

FINE PRINT

• This is open to finished manuscripts only.

• You may only enter one manuscript.

• Only the genres requested by each coach will be considered for the contest.

FORMATTING

Subject line: Pitch Wars Application: Coach Name you want to apply for: Title

Ex. Pitch Wars Application: Brenda Drake: GONE WITH THE WIND

Name: Your Name

Genre: The genre of your manuscript

Word Count: The word count of your manuscript

Query letterhere (embedded in email). Single spaced. No indentions. A space between each paragraph.

First five pages of the manuscript here (embedded in email). Single spaced. No indentions. A space between each paragraph.

REMINDER

You can send an application for up to 3 coaches!!

STAY TUNED

The Monday after Turkey Day, November 26th, I will announce the genres I’ll be accepting!

I saw the post said “aspiring authors.” What if we are published by a small publisher and have tried for years and years (to no avail) at wooing an agent? Would such a person qualify? Thanks! And this sounds fantastic!